When Emma met Aaron
by Carrie Anderson
Summary: Emma is now 17 and meets Janice's son Aaron. With interuptions from Ben, Erica, Jack, all your fave friends and of course Janice things were never gonna go smoothly
1. Hospitals, Cars and Nose jobs

A/N: This Fanfic was the idea of my good friend Telaka who doesn't have the time to do it so entrusted me to do it for her!! Another thing as I am Scottish I might make some mistakes with American words and use the British ones instead so I'm very sorry if I cause any offence and I will be writing in British English e.g. pyjamas rather than pajamas etc.

- change of scene

_Italics-_ flashbacks

'……'- thoughts

Disclaimer: I don't own friends or any of the characters related to friends. I only own the plot and Logan (and any other characters I add)

Chapter 1- Hospitals, Cars and Nose Jobs

"Emma, Its time to go to the hospital"

As Emma Geller woke, she had forgotten that she had to visit her grandmother in the hospital. Now 17 years old, she had visited this hospital whenever her grandmother felt the need for liposuction, botox, collagen and quite a few facelifts and that was very often-at least every three months.

"Emma, honey, we really need to go now!" Her mother had now entered the room looking very harassed.

"But mom, every time I go Aunt Amy pulls me into a doctor's office asking if I should have a nose job like you did" replied Emma.

"I know sweetie but, thankfully, Aunt Amy is in some Caribbean country harassing her new husband rather than you" said Rachel "Now will you get dressed 'cos I need you to drive us there, your Dad's too goddamn slow!"

And with that Emma put on some clothes, grabbed the car keys and set off for the hospital.

"Emma, please go slower you might crash or get hurt"

Emma looked at the speed she was going at, it was only 60 and she was on the free-way, confused she asked "what is wrong with the speed I'm going at?"

Ross opened his mouth to speak but Rachel cut him off "Nothing Honey it just that your father only drives at speeds under 30mph"

"I do not! But after being in a car with Phoebe you become rather concerned with road safety!" replied Ross

"Dad I am perfectly driving between the speed limits now if I did this" Emma put her foot harder on the accelerator "would I be scarier"

"Emma Geller, slow this car down now!!!"

Despite her mother roaring with laughter she slowed down the car just as they reached the hospital.

"Do I really have to go in?" Emma asked her mother with big puppy eyes

"Those eyes worked when you were seven not seventeen get your ass in there!"

As she walked into the hospital she was greeted by many familiar faces- nurses and doctors. It was as she walked down the corridor she saw an unfamiliar one. He was young, maybe her age he had dark hair and was beautiful, in fact, the only blemish he had was a faint scar across his nose but that didn't matter she was absorbed in his hazel eyes and he seemed absorbed in hers. She thought she could hear something but it was probably just background noise. As he sat down and faced in the other direction the sound became more clear.

"Emma, Emma, earth to Emma"

She swirled round to see her father staring at her worriedly, "Your Grandmother wants to see you now "

"Where's mom?" Emma asked

"She's fixing her makeup just so her darling mother cant say anything" replied Ross

"Dad, Gran can't say anything she's had collagen so she wont be able to move her lips"

A large smile of relief spread across Ross's face and he went to enter the room with Rachel "Emma, you coming"

With one last glance at the stranger she went into the room after her parents.

After ten minutes of listening to her grandmother try to talk Emma was finally freed from the room. She went back outside but the stranger was gone. _ '_Maybe he was just visiting someone' Emma thought but just as she sat down he cam out of the doctor's office in front of her

"Well Aaron I don't think I'll need to see you again" Said a doctor who Emma recognised as one of the doctors Amy had taken her to see.

The next thing she knew Aaron was walking over to her and he was smiling 'He must be looking at someone else' but he wasn't he was looking at her

"Hi I'm Aaron, I noticed you earlier but you went into Mrs Green's room before I could speak to you"

"You know my Grandmother?" Emma asked

"Yeah, everyone knows her round here" said Aaron with a smile "So does Sandra Green's granddaughter have a name?"

"Emma, Emma Geller"

"Umm I know I've just met you and stuff but I was wondering if you'd like to do something, sometime, maybe" said Aaron shyly

"Sure here's my number" Emma handed him one of the cards she and Erica had made when they were bored at the mall.

"O.k. how about tomorrow at the movie theatre at the mall around seven?"

"That'd be great, Oh why were you here If you don't wanna tell me that's ok…"

"No No its alright I had a nose job last year, my mom's orders today was my last check up"

"Oh ok sorry for prying" Emma looked around to see her parents waiting to leave

"I gotta go I'll see you tomorrow though"

"Yeah see ya"


	2. Telling the Family

Chapter 2- Telling the family

A/N: Thanks for all your reviews so cool. Here are some answers to your questions:

Tanya J Potter: This fic wont stop for while yet so don't worry this is gonna go on for a while

Mam: At present I have no idea how Ross is gonna react but the image I have of Chandler is very funny.(Even if I do say so myself!)

Red-Rumm: At the mo Emma doesn't even know who Janice is or her relation to Aaron (kinda comin in this chapter) and other than chandler I have no idea how the others are going to react yet!

rachgreengeller: Glad I made you laugh!!! and hopefully its gonna get funnier!

Telaka: All in good time my dear this chap will give more insight to their personalities and the next chapter is looks etc. You need to learn patience!!!

And thanks to BroadwayDiva, OTHlover4 and Dramagrl for your great reviews!!

Disclaimer: I don't own friends or Xmen I only own the plot, Logan, Gilda and Austin (plus any other new characters I may add)

Now on with the story!

Chapter 2: Telling the family.

During the drive home from the hospital Ross and Rachel kept giving each other funny looks and smiling at Emma

"Why do you two keep looking at me like that?" Emma eventually asked

"Nothing" Her mother replied "Oh and honey could you drive us to Mon and Chandlers?"

"Yeah sure I needed to see Erica anyway"

As they neared Monica and Chandler's, Ross gave Rachel another one of those strange looks. At this Emma pulled into the side of the road and stopped the car "okay what is going on?" she asked "I'm not moving this car 'til you tell me"

"Who was that guy you were speaking to at the hospital?" Her mother asked

Emma mentally kicked herself, she should've known!

"Umm his name is Aaron we're going to the movies tomorrow" Emma said hoping that would get it out of the way so she started driving again, no such luck!

"Why was he in the hospital?" She also should've known her Dad wouldn't let it go.

"He umm had a nose job" she replied "oh look we're here!"

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Emma darted from the car straight into her aunt and uncle's home and up the stairs to speak to Erica.

As Ross and Rachel entered the living room they began laughing at Monica and Chandler's surprised faces

"What was that all about?" asked Monica

"she met a guy at the hospital and Ross has interrogated her all the way home" replied Rachel

"Yeah well the more I think about it the more I'm starting to get freaked out" said Ross

"how do you mean" asked Chandler

"Well who has a kid called Aaron who is the exact same age as Emma and was in bad need of a nose job?"

"JANICE" The other three replied

"Exactly" said Ross

At that moment Phoebe came through the door. She and Mike had been married for nearly sixteen years now and they had two boys and a girl: Logan, 15,Gilda 10 and Austin 9.

"hey phoebes where's Logan?" asked Monica

"He's at a comic convention with Jack and Ben you know your son and nephew?"

"Oh yeah I forgot"

"so what were you guys talking about?" asked Phoebe

"Mommy can we go outside" asked Gilda

"Yeah sure sweetie" Phoebe said as her children left "Now what were you guys talking about?"

"Ross is over-reacting and has got it into his head that Emma is goin' on a date with Janice's son" replied Rachel

"The kid with the big nose?" asked Phoebe

"He's had a nose job" said Rachel

"So what's the problem?" asked Phoebe

"It's Janice!" said Chandler in a high pitched voice "Janice! Don't you remember the laugh, the 'OH MY GOD' and the voice?! Janice!"

"Calm down Chandler" said Monica "We don't even know he's Janice's son do we Everyone is just over reacting"

"Exactly. Just don't say anything to Emma and if after the date we find out that he was born on the same day as Emma and has a mother named Janice then we will start to worry" said Rachel

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Meanwhile in Erica's room Emma was telling her all about Aaron

"Oh my God Erica he is gorgeous like, like…"

"Your dream guy?" Erica suggested

"Exactly, he's had a nose job but you wouldn't be able to tell he's so perfect"

At that moment they here a name being shouted from downstairs

"Who's Janice" asked Erica

"I dunno" said Emma

"So when are you meeting him?"

"Tomorrow, we're going to a movie at seven"

"Does he have your number" asked Erica

"Yeah I gave him one of those dumb cards we made" said Emma

"I told you they'd come in handy, didn't I?" said Erica "Hey aunt Phoebe is here with Gilda and Austin"

"If they find out any of this conversation they'll tell everyone so shut up" said Emma

"Don't worry, they're goin outside" said Erica "Now we need to work out what you're gonna wear. What did you think about?"

"I dunno maybe a pair of Jeans and a nice shirt" replied Emma

Erica was staring at her with a look of disgust "Please in the name of all that is sacred tell me you are kidding!"

"We're only going to the movies" said Emma

"ONLY GOING TO THE MOVIES?! Emma Geller this is your first date in two years you are gonna look gorgeous! If it's the last thing I do you're gonna look gorgeous"

"Did I hear talk of dates?" came a voice behind them

Both turned round to see Erica's twin Jack standing in the door way

"Hey Jack" said Emma

"So who's the lucky guy? Or girl?" asked Jack

"Jack honey you're the only gay one round here" said Erica from within her wardrobe

"Keep your voice down! Gilda and Austin are here…"

"And my dear siblings can't keep their mouths shut" said Logan from behind them

"Exactly" said Jack "Now we have established that the date is male who is he and have I dated him?"

"Jack if you had dated him I wouldn't be dating him please be sensible and his name is Aaron" said Emma

"Mmm Aaron is he cute or has he had surgery?" asked Jack

"Both he had a nose job" answered Emma

"I heard our parents talkin about a kid who needed a nose job called Aaron" said Logan from behind the latest X-Men comic

"Oh so you do live in the real world" said Erica sarcastically (she was so like her father it was scary)

"Shut up Erica. Go on Logan" Emma said

"Well they said that there was a guy born on the same day as you and that his mother was the most annoying person who ever lived and that she was gonna make sure he had a nose job before he could date you but apparently she had the most annoying voice ever…"

"She did" came another voice from behind them

"God does no-one ever knock around here or does everyone just sneak into my room?" yelled Erica

"Erica calm down." said Ben "And if you wanted to keep people out close the door" He sat down on the bed next to his sister sitting a glass on the bed-stand next to him.

"Ben don't leave that cup there" said Jack "It'll stain"

"Yes Monica!" replied Ben picking up the glass "I swear you get more like your mother every day. Anyway what was I saying…oh yeah Janice! She used to date chandler on and off until I was maybe 2 or 3 then they got together properly and if you want an accurate account of Janice ask Joey- He hated her!"

"OK but how does everyone know she had a son if its not Chandler's and they lost touch?" asked Emma

"Oh yeah, when Rachel was in labour loads of women came and went with their babies, one of those women was Janice" replied Ben

"So the only time we need to worry is if I find out that Aaron has the same birthday as me, was born in the same hospital and has a mother called Janice" Emma said counting them off on her fingers

"And until that day comes all men, well maybe apart from Jack, have to leave the room for a girlie clothes selection session" said Erica and with that Logan and Ben quickly left.

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Ok what did you think-too long? Anyway review and by the by I need a beta if anyone is interested.


	3. Dresses and Dates

A/N: Things like this are Emma's thoughts 'blah blah blah'.

Rachgellergreen: I'm not sure yet maybe…you never know.

Mam: The whole Logan thing was intentional. My very good friend Telaka (also my beta) is a huge X-Men fan and her favourite name is Logan so the character of Logan is based on her and in that kind of situation I'd expect Telaka to be reading X-Men and also in the situation coming up!!!

Arwen16: I agree with most of your points and everything is more explained in this chapter.

Katie: Thank you, exactly the reaction I wanted!!

Huge thank you's to OTHlover, Butterflyzdreamz711, BroadwayDiva, celebgrl and Dramagrl for your great reviews

And Telaka you know what I think of your comments. Thank you!!!!!

Chapter 3: Dresses and Dates

"Okay we have less than 24 hours until the date – what are you gonna wear?" asked Jack.

"I've already told Erica – jeans and a shirt," said Emma.

Jack gasped. "Emma Geller, has your mother taught you nothing?! It's a date, not a chore. Good God Erica, _move_." He moved Erica and began to raid her wardrobe.

"Mmm, no, the LBD has been done to death… No… While I'm looking in here, describe this Aaron for us… Nope"

"I only saw him for a few minutes so I can't really think," said Emma.

"If you can't remember what he looks like how are you gonna recognise him tomorrow?" asked Erica.

"Umm, okay, he has dark hair, he's quite tanned, he has a cute little nose now–," started Emma.

"Now?" asked Jack

"He had a nose job, keep up Jack," said Erica. "And not that dress it makes girls look fat."

"As I was saying; he's tall, athletic, not muscley or skinny, just right. And his eyes, they're hazel and small, but round…"

Emma began to drift off at the thought of Aaron's eyes, and her cousins let her ponder the memories. Looking at each other they knew how much she liked him, and she really needed a good boyfriend – the others had been anything but.

Emma suddenly realised that she had been daydreaming and sharply turned to look at her cousins. "What…?"

"Nothing," said Jack and Erica together.

"Okay, now I have a few outfits selected, but I am not gonna let you try them on just yet," said Jack. "I will have my glamorous assistant Erica model them so you can choose your top 3 and then we can decide which is best."

'Why the hell does he do things like this?' thought Emma. She looked at Erica; they are exactly the same size, height, build, everything, but things always looked so much better on Erica than they did on her. Emma began to wonder if Aaron would've gone for Erica rather than her if they'd met first. Most guys did. Erica had long blonde hair which she swished like she was in some shampoo advert.

Jack on the other hand was very different. Although, like Erica, he was blonde, he was also tanned, similar to the tan Aaron had. 'It's a shame he's gay though,' thought Erica. 'He'd make some girl very happy.'

"Voila, outfit number one is this fabulous little black dress with sexy slip on sandals complete with glittery bag," announced Jack.

"It would be great if I was going to some fancy party, or if I was a footballer's wife, but for the movies, no," said Emma. "And I thought LBDs had been done to death."

"Shh."

The next outfit was perfect. It was a pair of jeans with sparkly details, a pink blouse and a camel coloured coat. "This is the one," said Emma. "Give me it and I'll try it on."

Erica changed quickly and Emma ran from the room with the clothes.

"And I thought Aaron was the one," said Jack to his sister.

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While the clothing session was taking place upstairs the adults were trying to get the whole story out of Ben and Logan. Both were hiding behind comics despite Ben not knowing what was going on. "Who's that chick again?" asked Ben, pointing to one of the characters in his comic.

"That's Storm – only like the best character to ever come from a comic," answered Logan. "You take me to conventions, why don't you know anything about this stuff?"

"Are you kidding?" said Ben. "I'm too busy looking at the models of hot girls in hot-pants."

At this point Ben looked over the top of his comic to see five faces staring at them. "They're still looking at us," he whispered to Logan.

"If we ignore them they'll get bored," whispered Logan.

At that moment, a silver Porsche pulled into the street.

"Hey, uncle Joey's here!" said Logan, and he and Ben ran to meet him in relief.

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"Hey guys what are you all doin' out here?" Joey asked Ben and Logan.

"We're trying to escape our parents," replied Ben.

"Okay, why?" asked Joey.

"Emma has a date with a guy tomorrow and they're convinced it's Janice's son."

"Aaaahhh – _Janice?!_ She's back" asked Joey.

"No she's not," said Ben. "Well we don't know if she is…"

"How do you even know anything about her?" asked Logan.

"I vaguely remember her from when I was a kid, and I remember everyone living in fear of Janice coming back – being the quiet kid has its advantages," replied Ben.

"Guys I'm freezing here and it's reaching my special area – can we go in?" asked Joey.

"Yeah sure." Said Ben and Logfan grudgingly

And all three went into the house.

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"We are _not_ gonna tell you anything," said Ben as he entered the room, "so don't even ask."

"Okay we'll just ask Erica and Jack when they come down," said Monica, signalling the others to sit down.

"They won't tell you either. Anything said amongst us is sacred." said Ben.

At this moment Emma, Erica and Jack came downstairs.

"Are we going home soon?" asked Emma.

"Yeah," replied Ross.

"Well then we're gonna go too," said Phoebe. "Gilda, Austin time to go."

"But don't you guys wanna hear about my new movie?" asked Joey, looking crestfallen.

"Tomorrow Man, we'll come over while Emma's out," replied Ross.

"Okay." said Joey. "But you guys wanna hear about it don't you?" he said to Monica, Chandler, Erica and Jack as everyone else exited the house quickly.

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The next day, Emma spent most of the morning and early afternoon constantly getting ready and stressing about the date. Ross and Rachel left her to it.

Up in her bedroom, she tried on her outfit at least twelve times trying to decide if she'd made the right choice. It looked so much better on Erica than it did on her. Unlike Erica, she wasn't blonde, she had dark brown, curlyhair like her dad,she didn't have nice toned legs; she was just normal Emma Geller. She tried to be like her mom, who was now an executive at Ralph Lauren (who had taken her back after much begging), but she was never into fancy clothes or looking perfect, she just liked being herself. After she had tried on the outfit for the thirteenth time, Erica and Jack came into her bedroom.

"Don't you guys ever knock?" she asked irritably.

"Oh look Erica, Emma's all nervous," said Jack in a baby voice.

"No I'm not, we're just going to a movie – no biggie," stated Emma unconvincingly.

"What time are you meeting him?" asked Erica.

"About 7. I'm borrowing Ben's car 'cause Dad won't lend me his," replied Emma.

Emma began to take off her jacket when Jack looked at the clock.

"Em', its 6:45, you've got no time to change now," he said.

Without looking at the clock Emma ran from the house and drove down the street at top speed. Erica however looked at it curiously.

"It's only 6:20, she's got ages yet." said Erica confused.

"Yeah but isn't it better if she's waiting for him rather than the other way around? That way if they ever get married and have lots of babies, she can tell her kids that Daddy made her wait on their first date." replied Jack.

"You're evil! I love it."

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When Emma got to the movie theatre she looked at the clock. It was only 6:30. 'I'm going to kill him,' she thought.

As she walked in she decided that she'd wait in the café for him to arrive, but to her surprise as she walked in to the cinema Aaron was there waiting already. As he turned around she was once again immersed in hisdark hazel eyes. He began to walk towards her and she suddenly got butterflies in her stomach.

"Hi, you're here early," said Emma.

'Why the hell did I say that, _'you're here early'_?! What were you thinking?!'

"Yeah, I work in the music store over there so I thought I'd just wait here rather than go home." replied Aaron.

"So, what do you wanna go see?" asked Emma.

"There's this movie – 'White Noise' – my friends said it was quite cool," said Aaron.

"Okay," said 'replied' instead of said? Emma. She had really wanted to see 'An Officer And A Gentleman' instead, which was being re-shown, and also Jack had been to see White Noise saying that it was the scariest thing he had ever seen.

'But Jack's a big scardy-cat', Emma told herself. 'But, then again so am I', she said to herself.

By this time Aaron had already bought the tickets. 'Oh well, here goes nothing.'

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A/N: I am going to be very horrible and leave it there, but never fear you wont wait as long for the next update I promise! As a little anecdote I have written the last chapter of the story so now I just need to work out how the rest of it's gonna go!!


	4. Conversations

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise in this Fanfic. That includes anything to do with Friends, X-Men or any of the movies/songs I mention.

RossBeckett: I was so shocked to see all your reviews, it was weird, but anyway thank you. Ross is most certainly going to go into protective father mode and Ben will be slightly protective older brother. Janice will appear very soon, I promise, and on the subject of the Actress to play Emma I have absolutely no idea. However Telaka and I began forming a complete cast list so when it's ready I'll email it to you!

Merry-2004: I'm glad you like. This had been my fastest ever update by the way so I did update soon!

Rachgellergreen: I love your reviews, they're so fun, and Jack and Ben are my faves too! They're gonna get so much better!

OTHlover04: Thanks for your review.

Exintaris: The whole Joey thing was trying to communicate how the friends feel about Janice. Ben most likely never met her so all he has knows is what he has over heard in conversations and like you said no member of the friends group is ever gonna give Janice a good reveiw. Sorry if there was any offence. Janice is gonna be one of the most fun brilliant characters in this!

Telaka: The annoying siblings from hell are coming very soon dont you worry! And I thought Logan would be your fave. THERE IS A CLAIRE!

BroadwayDiva: I'm glad you like so here's the next instalment

Chapter 4: Conversations

If you had walked into the living room of the Bing residence at the time Emma and Aaron were at the movies you could've sworn you'd gone back in time sixteen years. Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe were just having a normal conversation, but probably for the first time in those sixteen years there were no children about, none of Joey's girlfriends, even Mike had left them to it.

"… So anyway, I got the lead!" said Joey.

"Explain the movie to me again," said Rachel.

"Okay, I play this guy who meets this girl, then they fall in love and he gets sent to war and she's distraught. But then he comes back and they get back together and stuff," said Joey excitedly.

"So it's a chick flick," said Chandler.

"No it's a war romance," said Joey defiantly.

"So it's a chick flick," repeated Chandler.

"No, it's…a good honest…chick flick," replied Joey.

"If it helps Joe, we'll go see it," said Monica sympathetically while the others, even Chandler, nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys. So what's goin' on with you lot?" asked Joey.

"Emma is on a date with Janice's son," said Ross.

Rachel promptly hit her husband and said, "We don't know that yet, so don't jump to conclusions."

"Ben and Logan mentioned that," said Joey. "Hey how do you guys remember Janice's son's name?"

"'Cos he's part of the day Emma was born, and you never forget _anything_ about the birth of your child," said Rachel. "Even if you want to!"

"Yeah, I mean I still remember on the day the twins were born that we went into the wrong room and there was like a toddler coming out of this woman," said Chandler.

"God that kid was big," agreed Monica.

"Okay so that's Rach, Ross and Emma. What about you Phoebes?" asked Joey.

"I'm gonna be a great-aunt! Chandler's preganant" said Phoebe excitedly.

Evreryone turned to look at her strangely

"One of the triplets!" exclaimed Phoebe.

"Ohhh" replied the reat of the group.

"That's so cool Phoebe," said Rachel.

"I dunno, 'Great-Aunt Phoebe' makes me feel old," said Phoebe.

"Nah, you'll always be the weird hot girl I know and love," said Joey.

"Awww, that's so sweet Joey. So what about you guys?" she said to Monica and Chandler.

"I'm worried about Jack. I think he's having girl trouble," said Chandler.

"Unlikely honey, he's gay," replied Monica.

"WHAT!" said all three guys in unison.

"Guys are so dumb," said Phoebe.

"Yeah it's plainly obvious. I mean he wears better clothes than _me _which I might add are always clean, he always looks perfect, smooth skin the works," said Rachel.

"And has he ever brought a girl home?" asked Monica not expecting an answer.

"Umm… well he…no… _My son is gay!_" said Chandler.

Just then Erica and Jack, who had been listening in, came downstairs.

"Well that saves me coming out," said Jack to his sister.

"Exactly," said Erica and both of them burst out laughing at the sight of their Father and two uncles trying to act like they were okay with it all.

"It's ok guys, just 'cos I've had my whole life to get used to it doesn't mean you have," said Jack after he had stopped laughing.

"Are you sure?" asked Ross, as Logan entered reading the latest X-Men comic.

"Logan am I gay?" asked Jack.

"Well, considering at conventions you check out Cyclops and Wolverine's asses rather than Storm, Jean or Rogue's I'd say yeah," replied Logan from behind his comic.

"Okay, well we're going to Ben's. See ya!" said Erica and the three teenagers left.

"Oh and Dad, don't worry, I won't steal your Judy Garland records just yet!"

All three men looked horror-struck as the girls collapsed laughing.

-

On their way to Ben's new apartment, Erica, Jack and Logan laughed as the re-enacted the reactions to Jack's sexuality.

"Okay I knew that my mom had an idea but not Rach or Phoebe!" said Jack

"Well, they tell each other everything so she probably told them. If they hadn't guessed already" replied Erica

"I wonder how it's goin' with Emma and Aaron" said Logan out of the blue.

"I dunno but I hope they went to see _"An officer and a gentleman" _ instead of _"White Noise"_ God that film's scary" said Jack

Before Jack could tell them the plotline of White Noise, they arrived at Ben's and were greeted by his girlfriend Claire.

"hey guys come in. Ben is actually cooking for the first time in three years you have got to see this" said Claire

"Do we actually have to eat it?" asked Erica and Jack in unison

"It's so obvious you two are twins you know" said Logan

"Why thank you" replied the twins again in unison.

As they entered Ben looked like a blonde, male version of Monica.

"Okay no-one enters the kitchen area until I'm done!" said Ben loudly.

"Are you glad we ate that bar of mint chocolate before we came?" Erica whispered to her brother.

"Hell yeah" he replied

"So, where's Emma tonight?" asked Claire

"She's on a date" said Logan immediately returning to the page of his comic he had been previously reading.

"Oooh with who?" asked Claire.

"A guy she met in a hospital called Aaron" said Logan

"Is he cute?" asked Claire

"The way Emma described him-very cute" replied Jack

"You better watch talking like that your parents are gonna work out your sexuality sooner or later" said Ben from in the kitchen

"it doesn't matter anymore he was out-ed by his mom tonight" said Logan

"You're kidding me!" said Claire "How did she know?"

"She's a mom and they guess these things," replied Erica "But then again both Rachel and Phoebe knew so maybe you were pretty obvious…to women anyway"

"Okay dinner is served" said Ben

The other four entered the kitchen and surprisingly all the food looked quite good

"Dig in" said Ben

Each of them put the food in their mouth with great care and surprisingly-it was really nice although Claire and Ben's next revelation made each and every one of them choke their food out onto the floor…

-

At the movie theatre Emma and Aaron were walking out after their first date. It was scary, scarier than anything Emma had ever seen before. She spent most of it burying her face in Aaron's neck, a fact which neither of them minded.

"Do you wanna go get something to eat?" asked Aaron. "I thought you'd be hungry since you spilt your popcorn on the floor."

Emma's face went slightly red. "It was scary!"

Aaron laughed. 'God he has a lovely smile,' Emma thought.

"And yes I would like something to eat," she declared and started to walk in the direction of the nearest café. Aaron ran to catch up with her.

"Do you always run away from your dates?" asked Aaron as they sat down at a table beside the window

"Nope. They normally run away from me," replied Emma.

Before Aaron could answer the waitress asked them for their order.

"Okay, I will have a cheeseburger and fries with a diet coke," said Emma. "You want anything?" she asked Aaron.

"Umm the same thanks," he replied.

"Okay thanks, I'll bring your drinks over in a sec," replied the waitress.

"So do you have much family?" asked Emma trying to break the silence.

"Yeah a sister and twin brothers. You?" replied Aaron.

"I have an older brother Ben and that's about it, except my cousins are practically my brothers and sister too so I suppose I have quite a big family," said Emma.

"What are your cousins like?" asked Aaron.

"Logan is an X-Men fanatic and if I ever saw him without a comic in his hand I think I'd drop down dead," she started as Aaron laughed. "What?"

"Nothing you're just really funny," replied Aaron.

"Really? Most people just think I'm weird," said Emma in shock.

"Nope, funny," said Aaron as he looked into Emma's crystal blue eyes.

"Okay… Anyway, as I was saying – Gilda and Austin are the most annoying younger siblings you could ever meet, and Erica and Jack, they're twins and probably the ones I'm closest to. It was Jack who told me how scary that film is and for the first time in my life I'm convinced of what he said," said Emma.

"My friends told me to take you to a horror, said it's the best way to get a girl to hug you on the first date," said Aaron quietly.

"_What!_ That is utterly degrading to a woman-" said Emma and when she saw the look of horror on Aaron's face she continued, "but also the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

"Really?" asked Aaron.

"Yeah," said Emma as she lightly touched his hand.

"So what would you have preferred?" asked Aaron as the waitress brought over their hamburgers.

"_An officer and a gentleman," _replied Emma.

"What's that about?" asked Aaron.

"It's about this guy in military training and he meets this girl but he chooses her career over her even though they're in love." said Emma.

"That sounds depressing," said Aaron.

"But the ending is good – he walks into the factory she works in wearing full sailor's uniform, picks her up, puts his hat on her head and carries her out of there. And all of this is accompanied by the song _"Up where we belong" _by Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker – it's so romantic, I'd love a guy to do that to me," replied Emma.

"So it's your fantasy then," asked Aaron.

"Yeah, well one of them. The other one is from Pretty Woman. At the end Richard Gere goes to Julia Robert's apartment in a limousine with the top open and opera blaring and even though he's afraid of heights he climbs all the way up to the top of the building using the fire escapes to get to her, kinda like a knight on a white horse thing."

"So you're a romantic then?" asked Aaron.

"Oh yeah. This is normally the point where guys run, they think I'm some weird bunny boiler, so feel free the door's just over -" Aaron cut her off with a kiss, "…there."

"I don't think I'll be needing it somehow," said Aaron.

"Nope, me neither…"

-

A/N: And I'm going to leave it there. One little thing here:

If anyone knows Janice's daughter's name please let me know as she's going to feature in the next chapter. If no one knows I'll make a name up.


	5. Revelations and Janice

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and any characters not related to Friends.

A/N: I cannot apologise enough for the delay. It was not my fault as i did send this to my beta about three weeks ago but she was too busy (with a certain new boyfriend to get it ready for all of you lovely reveiwers so i apologise and here it is! Another thing, after discussing the still unfinished chapter 6 with my beta (and good friend) I think i may have to bump this up a rating not that im going to do graphic stuff or anything just as a precaution for language etc. I just thought id let you know incase there's a problem with that.

Rachgellergreen: I love getting your reviews, they're so much fun. Anyway the whole 'Officer and a Gentleman' thing came to me when I was actually watching it but I loved it because it did fit. The outing of Jack was going to be later but needed it for chap 6 so it had to be done now. Please keep reviewing!

Merry-2004: The reunion of the gang was my fave too!

ButterflyDreamz711: I just made up a name in the end but thanks for your review!

Kirsty: Thanks for your review and I'll try to write more friends stuff in the future.

OTHlover: Thanks again for your review.

Telaka: Ha ha I was right, you were wrong! Some beta reader you are!

BroadwayDiva: Phoebe originally said Lesley but I thought it was funnier with Chandler. Glad you like!

Emma: Such a coincidence with your name huh? Any way thanks for all your info for some reason I always thought it was a girl but I used another name anyway.

And on with the show!

Chapter 5: Revelations and Janice!

Emma and Aaron stayed in the café for hours until they were the last two people there and the manager wanted to close the place.

"Okay so Aaron Litman Geralnick, what don't I know about you… Oh your birthday!" said Emma.

"April 20th," replied Aaron. "What about you Emma Geller?"

"Umm April 20th," said Emma in shock. "Coincidence huh?"

"Yeah… Okay – parents/siblings names," said Aaron.

"My Mom and Dad are called Rachel and Ross and my brother is called Ben – you?"

"My Dad is called Stan, my sister's name is Natalie my brothers are Jamie and Ryan. And oh yeah, my mom's called Janice," replied Aaron.

Emma tried not to look shocked at the mention of this name but her face said it all. She opened her mouth slightly as if she was going to say something but no words were coming out. When Aaron saw this he asked her what was wrong but she brushed it off by asking more questions.

"Do you need a ride home? I have my brother's car," asked Emma.

"Yeah that'd be great thanks," replied Aaron.

They finally got to the car park after continuing to ask each other stupid, meaningless questions. Emma still couldn't get the name Janice out of her head. 'But then again there could be millions of women with the name Janice…' she thought. Eventually they reached Bens car. Aaron was surprised to find a mini.

"What's up?" asked Emma, seeing the shocked look on his face.

"Nothing, I just thought that it would have been a Porsche or something, not a mini," replied Aaron.

"It may not be a Porsche but it's Ben's pride and joy," said Emma as she opened the car. "And if you want a ride in a Porsche I'll steal my uncle Joey's car next time." As soon as the words left her she regretted them. 'Next time? What if there isn't going to be a next time, stupid Emma!' she thought. She was even more taken aback however by Aaron's response,

"Yeah that'd be cool," he said.

"Okay then, I'll take it when he's not looking," she replied cooly but inside her heart was doing sumersaults.

"Is he as attached to his car as your brother is to this thing?" Aaron asked.

"More," she replied. "My Dad told me once that he found the keys to some guy's Porsche and spent the whole day pretending that it was his!"

"He sounds funny."

They spent the entire journey telling each other meaningless stories until they finally arrived at Aaron's house. It was a nice house, very similar to Monica and Chandler's and very close to Ben's 'That'll be handy,' she thought. 'No Emma, you're getting ahead of yourself!'

"So… I guess this is it then huh?" said Aaron.

"Yep," replied Emma slightly sad sounding.

"So do you wanna meet up tomorrow night?" he asked. "We can go see 'An Officer and a Gentleman' if you like."

"I can't tomorrow," she said even more sadly. "My Uncle Joey's just back from L.A and we're having this kinda dinner/party thing for him, but the next night's good."

"Okay then," he replied. Then as she turned away he kessed her. This time it was more passionate than before but it felt right for both of them. '

As Emma opened her eyes slightly she saw a ghostly looking woman standing at the window. She had black hair and was very pale in complexion. She let out a small scream.

"Baby bro' shut your girlfriend up!" said the woman.

"Hey don't worry. It's just my sister Natalie." Aaron said reassuringly.

"Oh okay, I'm sorry I screamed," said Emma apologetically.

"Hey that's okay sweet cheeks," replied Natalie. "Mom just wanted me to find out who was in the nice car."

"Okay well I'm coming now," replied Aaron. "Same time Saturday?"

"Yep definitely," she replied as Aaron got out of the car. "And this time I choose the movie."

And with that she smiled happily and drove away

"Hey she's cute bro," said Natalie as they walked towards the house.

"Yeah she is," said Aaron dreamily.

"Come on lets get you inside Lover Boy."

As they entered both of Aaron's brothers ran to meet him.

"Mom's coming," said Jamie.

"She wants to know how the date went," finished Ryan.

All four of them quickly but quietly ran upstairs away from their mother. When they got to Aaron's room they ran in and sat down on the bed.

"So I'll sit on the floor then," said Aaron sarcastically.

"So is she hot?" asked Jamie.

"None of your business," replied Aaron.

"So she is then," said Ryan.

"She is quite cute," said Natalie from the corner.

"Something you wanna tell us Nat?" asked Jamie.

"Girls can think other girls are pretty just as much as guys can," she replied.

"Okay so" Jamie was interrupted as two girls suddenly climbed in through the open bedroom window. One was Kirsty who had been Aaron's best friend since birth. The other was Siobhan, her sister who was currently dating Jamie. Kirsty sat down next to Aaron while Siobhan promptly sat on Jamie's knee.

"Who was that girl I saw you with at the mall?" asked Kirsty.

"Hi to you too Kirst'," replied Aaron.

"That was his new girlfriend, umm what's her name?" asked Ryan.

"Emma."

"That's a cute name," said Siobhan.

"Was that the girl you told me about?" Kirsty asked. Aaron nodded. "So what did you take her to see?"

"White Noise," he replied.

"You took her to see a horror on your first date!" said Siobhan in shock.

"I told him to do that," said Kirsty. "So did my plan work?"

"Yeah it worked very well, but she's choosing the next movie," said Aaron.

"Next movie!" said Natalie with a sly smile "Hey good goin' little bro'"

"Hey kids you want anything to eat?" said a very familiar voice from behind the door. Janice.

"No thanks Mom I ate while I was out," replied Aaron. After him another five 'no's' came and Janice left, but waited outside to hear everything.

"So when's the next date?" asked Kirsty.

"Saturday. Her uncle's just home so they're having a party tomorrow." Aaron replied.

"Well that's good since you're working tomorrow," said Ryan.

"I am?"

"Yeah just like you do every Friday!" he replied.

"Do you need picked up tomorrow Aaron?" said Janice from outside again.

"Yeah. That'd be great Mom," said Aaron and then whispered, "Does she ever go away?"

"Nope!" replied everyone else.

"So this girl you're dating?" started Janice now standing in the doorway.

"What about her?" asked Aaron.

"What's her name?"

"Emma."

"Who are her parents?"

"Ross and Rachel Geller."

Janice suddenly stopped talking (a rare occurence) and similarly to Emma she opened her mouth shocked before uttering those immortal words "Oh. My. GAWD!"

"What?" asked the kids.

"Nothing sweeties. You guys better get to bed/ home – wherever the hell you wanna go."

When everyone had left, Aaron sat in his room with so many things on his mind. Emma, their next date, and why his mother reacted the way she did to Emma's parents just like Emma had to his...

After Emma dropped Aaron off she went over to Ben's to return his car. She really didn't want to as she loved the car and loved driving in it. Especially with Aaron…

Aaron. The date had gone better than she could ever have imagined except for the fact that rather than the lovely story of a sailor, she had to watch a film about a man hearing the voice of his dead wife. Oh how fun!

She arrived at Ben's sooner than she thought. All those thoughts of Aaron must've taken longer than she expected

As she walked into her brother's apartment she was faced with the most peculiar sight. Her three cousins were sitting on the couch with a shocked expression on their faces while her brother and his girlfriend could barely contain their laughter.

"You told them, then?" asked Emma.

"Yep, the only movement they've made since is from the kitchen to here," replied Claire.

"You're getting married…"said Jack slowly.

"And you're pregnant," Erica finished while she looked at Claire.

"Wait," said Logan as he turned to look at Emma, "YOU KNEW!"

"And you didn't tell us!" said the twins in unison.

"Sorry must've slipped my mind," said Emma feigning innocence.

"And she's my sister, so course I told her first," said Ben.

"Okay, okay we'll get back to Emma in a minute." said Jack, finally taking charge of the situation. "Do you two realise that you're only 24 and have your whole lives to do this!"

"Yes we do, but why wait?" asked Claire. "Okay the baby wasn't exactly planned but it couldn't have come at a better time!"

"Exactly and we'd rather have our bridesmaids/groomsmen happy about this!" said Ben.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Bridesmaids!" asked Erica.

"Groomsmen?" added Logan.

"Yeah well Emma's going to be maid of honour, I want Jack to be my best man, Logan I want you to be my other best man/usher type thingy and Erica the other Bridesmaid," replied Ben.

"What about Gilda and Austin?" asked Logan sarcastically.

"Flower girl and Page boy" replied Claire. "We're telling everyone else at Joey's dinner thing tomorrow."

"Okay we're very happy for you and everything but it's now Emma's turn to spill." said Erica suggestively.

"Spill what?" she asked feigning innocence again.

"THE DATE!" yelled the other five people in the room.

"Oh, that."

"Yes that," said Jack strongly.

"What do you wanna know about it?" asked Emma sneakily.

"Everything!" said Jack and Erica together.

"Well, we went to a movie and them we had a hamburger."

"What movie?" asked Jack.

"White Noise. His choice not mine but I get to choose the next one."

"Next one?" asked Erica.

"Okay the date went _very_ well."

"Why the hell did he take you to see White Noise on your first date!" asked Jack in shock.

"He said that his friend told him that taking a girl to a horror is the best way to get them to hug you on the first date."

Claire turned to Ben. "So _that's_ why we went to see The Exorcist."

Ben's face suddenly turned red as he tried to speak, but no words came out before he turned to Emma. "So when's the next date little sis?"

"Saturday. We were gonna go out tomorrow but Uncle Joey's thing is tomorrow and I think he says that he works on Friday."

"So now that that's out of the way, are we going home?" asked Erica.

"Yeah I'll drive you guys," said Ben.

On the drive home everyone was surprisingly quiet but the feeling that Jack and Erica were up to something spoke enough volumes. Logan was first to be dropped off, followed by Emma and then finally Erica and Jack.

"What are you two up to?" asked Ben as they got out of the car.

"Nothing Daddy," said Erica.

"Nothing at all," continued Jack.

"We promise," said the two of them together.

"Okay well keep it that way," said Ben very fatherly.

As they entered the house they found their parents and Uncle sitting on the couch.

"Hey did you guys have fun at Ben's?" asked Monica.

"Yeah it was good," replied Jack and then upon seeing everyone looking at him asked, "What? Do I have something in my teeth?"

"So vain and also so gay!" replied Erica sarcastically, hoping that her twin would get the message.

"Oh, that, yeah I expected more of this," said Jack as he and Erica sat down. "So what do you wanna know?"

"When? How? Why?" said Chandler babbling.

"Okay here we go in answer to question number 1: I've always been gay, probably I realised when I was 12; number 2: it's not something most teenage boys wanna discuss with their father and 3: why? Cos I find men unbelievably sexy."

"Go to bed, both of you," said Chandler. "And lets never talk about this again"

"Okay Dad," replied Jack.

When they reached the top of the stairs they went into Erica's room and sat on the bed.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Erica.

"About Aaron?" he asked. "I think we should."

"Emma would kill us though."

"Yeah she probably would, but come on it'll be fun!"

"Okay we'll go tomorrow," replied Erica. "But if she gets mad it's your fault."

_(A/N: I was gonna leave it here but I'm not that nasty so on we go…)_

Erica and Jack got up early to make their plan of action, and everyone was suspicious.

"It's not like them to be so quiet," said Monica to the others.

"Maybe it's the whole Jack with men thing," replied Joey. "Remember Chandler told them not to mention it again."

"Mmm, maybe…" said Monica.

"Do you think they're talking about us?" asked Erica.

"Yep, definitely," replied Jack. "So are you ready?"

"Yeah hang on," she replied, "Mom, we're going out for a while."

"Okay but remember and be back for 7," replied Monica.

"We will," the twins replied in unison.

"Don't you just hate it when they do that?" asked Phoebe.

"Yeah."

Finding Jack and Erica Bing at the mall wasn't an unusual occurrence, but today they weren't shopping or seeing a movie – they were watching. Watching their cousin's new boyfriend. They'd never done this before but this one was different. He could have history they didn't know about and over the years the twins had seen Emma hurt by the men she really cared about. This time it wasn't going to happen.

"Do you realise that we have never seen Aaron, and have no way of knowing who he is?" Erica asked her brother.

"Yes I did realise that, but, Emma's described him and told us that he works in the music shop," he replied.

"So?"

"So they also wear name badges in that store. How many Aarons' can there be in that store that fit Emma's description?" Jack asked.

"Good point," replied Erica.

They didn't quite have to go as far as the music store to find him. They decided to stop off in the same café where Emma and Aaron had spent half their date in, and found him there. With another girl. It seemed like the logical solution to sit next to them and listen in but they left before they could. So they followed the next logical solution. Follow them.

The twins follwed them right next to the music store where they saw him hug the girl and watch her leave before they entered the store. For the first time they saw him properly

'Emma sure knows how to pick 'em,' Jack thought and Erica thought exactly the same. 'He's gorgeous.'

But they were also under the misguided belief that he was cheating on Emma.

"Hey come with me, I just had an idea on how we can talk to the cheating hunk," said Jack as they walked over to the counter where Aaron was standing.

"Hi, how can I help?" asked Aaron.

"Ooh very polite" said Jack as camply as he possibly could.

"Well that's my job" replied Aaron.

"Okay then, well I wonder if you could help me. I'm looking for a soundtrack for my cousin."

"Which one?" asked Aaron.

"An Officer and a Gentleman," replied Jack. "It's her favourite, especially that song at the end, oh what's it called?"

"_Up Where We Belong_?" Aaron suggested, then suddenly realising who they the twins were.

"Oh that's the one! Have you seen the movie?" asked Jack.

"No but I'm going to tomorrow. You know I thought we'd be together longer before I met Emma's family," said Aaron. "Jack and Erica right? So is this the 'What's he like day' or some thing?"

"Yeah, it is, and we don't like it when we find out that he's cheating on our cousin already!" said Erica angrily.

"Excuse me?"

"We saw you earlier with that girl, looked very cosy!"

"Erica would you shut up!" said Jack.

"Okay for your information that was my best friend Kirsty. She never has been and never will be my girlfriend."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to" said Erica embarrassed.

"That's okay."

Before they could talk more Janice walked into the shop and came right up to Aaron.

"Sweetie, I'm just doing a little shopping before you come home so if you still want a ride I'll be here all afternoon," she said.

"Thanks Mom. Umm this is Jack and Erica, Emma's cousins," said Aaron.

"Jack and Erica – so you're Monica and Chandler's kids huh?" she started. "Although you don't look a thing like them."

"We were adopted," said Jack. "How do you know our parents?"

"Oh honey I know your father very well, as do I know Emma's father very well. I never got that kind of intimacy with Joey though. Oh well I suppose two outta three aint bad."

"Mom please don't!" said Aaron in disgust.

"Ooh sorry Mr Grouchy. Anyway how is everybody?" asked Janice.

"They're fine. Uncle Joey's just back from LA actually, we're having a kind of dinner thing for him tonight," replied Erica not realising the implications that those words would have.

"Oh. My. Gawd!. That's just perfect. I know Aaron and I will come too! What a perfect way for everyone to get together again!"

"Uh, Mom, we weren't invited." said Aaron seeing the shocked looks on Jack and Erica's faces.

"They don't mind do you?" said Janice.

"Umm…" said the twins.

"See, that's settled. We'll even bring Natalie and the boys! Is seven okay?"

"Uh…" replied Jack.

"Perfect!" said Janice as she walked out of the shop.

"We better go," said Erica.

"See you tonight then," said Aaron, totally embarrassed by his mother's actions.

"Yeah…" replied Jack still in total shock.

Erica and Jack both ran from the store and tried to get home as quickly as possible. Neither said anything to the other. They knew they were going to be in some serious trouble for this.

When they walked into the house everyone was there. They both looked as white as a sheet.

"Kids what's wrong, are you sick?" asked Monica worriedly.

"No, Janice is coming to dinner!"

A/N: This is the longest chapter I have ever done! 3000 words! Anyhoo, thanks for the help with the name. In the end I just named her after one of my friends (who is also a Goth) Please review!


	6. Preview

Preview 

Due to a nasty virus which infected my darling computer, chapter 6 has been deleted! As it was the longest chapter yet, its going to be about 2-3 weeks (after beta-ing) before I can update so, being the nice writer that I am, I decided to give you a sneak preview of what is coming up and, as Jack seems to be a favourite between all of you, I am putting in my fave section of chapter 6 which shows another side to Jack-very like his father.

Thank you, for all of the lovely reviews I received, the official replies will be in the next chapter but since there was a little confusion, I'll just clear that up; Claire is no relation to any of the friends, except Ben- who she is about to marry- and a new character-Paul, introduced in this preview who is also very close to Jack. If it's still unclear let me know and I'll see what I can do to clear up matters.

Coming up:

The friends come face to face with Janice for the first time in 16 years

Aaron's family and Emma's family finally meet. However tension rises between Jack and Janice's seemingly homophobic son, Ryan.

Gilda and Austin show their true colours, much to Jack's dismay.

Emma and Aaron get closer, as do Janice and Joey (drunkenly).

And here's the preview. This comes at the end of the chapter when we find out a little bit more about Jack and his feelings towards Ryan.

After enduring over an hour of glares of disgust at what he and Paul were doing Jack finally snapped, left the room, went straight to the garage, found his dad's new hiding place, took as many cigarettes as he could find and went to sit on the garden swing his mother had insisted on buying.

As he sat there contemplating whether to light one of the cigarettes, a familiar voice came from behind him,

"You know, smoking's bad for your health" said Paul before sitting next to Jack.

"Never stopped you and you're a dancer-worse for you" he replied

"Okay Jackie-boy, something's wrong, spill." demanded Paul

"Nothings wrong" Jack replied hotly.

"It's the brunette kid isn't it, Ryan or something" said Paul

"Why would I care about that homophobic idiot?" asked Jack sarcastically

"Come off it Jack, he's no more homophobic than you or I" said Paul

"I'm not discussing this anymore" replied Jack angrily

"You know what's really bothering you?" asked Paul

"What?" asked Jack sarcastically.

"This Ryan kid reminds you of yourself" he replied

"What are you talking about?"

"God, Jackie-boy you do have a short memory" started Paul "When you and I met, you were petrified of me, just like Ryan's petrified of you. You weren't scared because I was flamboyant, loud, in your face, every gay label under the sun- it was because you knew deep, deep down that you were exactly like me and that scared you. Just like Ryan's scared because he's exactly like you."

"So how's this supposed to help me?" asked Jack

"If you remember rightly, I was there for you as soon as you admitted it to yourself, you have to be there for him" replied Paul.

"How do I do it, if he won't even look at me?" asked Jack

"He'll come to you. Just like you came to me." He replied.

"But if he doesn't?"

"He will. You like him don't you?" said Paul suggestively

"No what makes you say that?" asked Jack defensively

"You've got that look in your eye. It's the same look I had every time I saw you" said Paul

"But you and me-" started Jack

"Are over." finished Paul. "Yeah it was fun while it lasted and even more fun since, but we have to call it a day and move on. I have I got a dog!"

"Are you sure" asked Jack

"What that I got a dog? Yeah he's a Chinese hairless and I called him Kyle." Said Paul

" You know fine well what I mean" said jack sternly

"Yeah I'm sure," replied Paul. "One last kiss wouldn't go amiss though"

Jack laughed and the two shared a passionate kiss for what they both knew would be the last time. Little did they know that they were being watched by Ryan whose stomach was churning not with disgust but with jealousy. As they broke away from the kiss Paul and Jack turned to see Ryan and Paul whispered to Jack before leaving.

"Mmm sooner than I thought."

Okay chickens there you go, you're own very special preview, hope you like and I will have chap 6 ready for you very soon.


	7. Dinnertime

A/N: Okay here we go eventually! I am so sorry for the delay- exams, holidays, etc. I hope you enjoy it, however, I have extended a bit concerning Jack and his sexuality, which is why this story has been bumped up in the ratings. I hope you do enjoy rthis and if there are any concerns regarding Jack, Ryan and Paul, please let me know and I will tone down future chapters.

Chapter 6

"Janice is coming to dinner!"

When the twins rushed home and told everyone the news the entire room froze and went silent. Everyone, that is, except for Chandler who began to laugh hysterically. Everyone turned to look at him in disbelief and through the hysterics he managed to say:

"I'm sorry but it sounded like they just said, 'Janice is coming to dinner.'"

"We did!" said the twins in unison.

The colour drained from his face as the realisation that he was about to come face to face with the woman he had hated and feared for most of his adult life hit him.

"How is she…? Why is she…? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" he shrieked at Jack and Erica.

"Well, we decided to check out this new boyfriend of Emma's –" Erica started.

"You did WHAT?" asked Emma angrily.

"We went to see what he was like," continued Jack. "And we were chatting ever so nicely to him, and then his mother appeared."

"She somehow, within like five seconds, found out who we were, that we were mom and dad's adopted kids, and invite herself for dinner," said Erica. "She seemed to do it in one breath!"

"That sounds like Janice," said Joey.

"So, you all look mad… that's a good sign… Any thoughts? Or comments maybe?" asked Jack nervously.

"We need to clean this house," said Monica.

"And why do we need to do that?" asked Chandler, still in a deep state of shock.

"Because I am not going to give that woman the satisfaction of finding a speck of dust in this house," replied Monica.

Ross turned to Joey and muttered, "She'd have a hard job." Joey nodded in agreement.

As the adults began cleaning, Erica, Jack, Emma and Logan went up the stairs into Erica's bedroom. Jack and Erica could sense Emma's anger. It was so strong that even Logan felt it. When they entered the room, Logan sat in the corner while Jack and Erica sat on the bed awaiting their fate. As Emma stood in front of them they closed their eyes as they waited for her to speak.

"So… what did you think of Aaron then," she asked.

Erica and Jack opened their eyes in shock, even Logan looked up from his comic stunned.

"He seemed, nice…" ventured Erica.

"Very cute," added Jack.

"Funny, I thought that too and I think he thought that about me," said Emma.

"He does," said the twins.

"He may well do. But he won't after tonight! He won't after he is exposed for long periods of time to my father talking about dinosaurs! He won't after he hears about the 300000 women Joey has dated! He won't after he sees what he's gonna get when he gets involved with me!" Emma yelled.

"Em, he's not dating us. He's dating you," said Erica.

"So in the end no matter how weird we are, he'll still like you," said Jack as he hugged Emma. "And, if his mother is anything to go by, his family is just as weird as ours so you have absolutely nothing to worry about!"

"So are you looking forward to seeing him again?" Erica.

"I suppose so," replied Emma.

"Well tyhanks to us you get to see him a day early!" said Erica triumphantly.

"So what are you going to wear?" Jack asked Emma.

"This," she replied pointing to a pair of jeans and a lilac sweater.

"Oh no honey. Did I not teach you anything?" asked Jack.

"What's wrong with my outfit?"

"Firstly, those jeans are as old as your mother and show it," replied Jack heading to Erica's wardrobe. "And secondly, that sweater covers all of your assets. Honey if you wanna keep a guy you gotta show some cleavage!"

"So what cleavage is it you show then Jack?" asked Logan cheekily, who was ignored by Jack.

"I agree," said Erica. "How bout a sundress and strappy sandals? I have one in the back of my closet that I got last year. I think it's pink. And I'm sure I have shoes to match."

"Are you determined to give me every piece of pink clothing that you own?" asked Emma sarcastically.

"No, but it does suit you better than me. I think pink was invented for brunettes," she replied.

"Ah here we are," said Jack emerging from the closet with a pink sundress and matching sandals. "At least try them on. If you don't like them then you can change back into your own clothes."

Emma reluctantly left the room to try on the clothes. Jack turned to his sister and asked. "Do you think she's still mad at us?"

Erica shrugged but Logan replied, "She is, but she'll get over it as soon as she sees Aaron; you're all the same. Erica was with Michael, Jack still is with Paul and Emma will be with Aaron"

"And when did you become the profound philosopher?" asked Erica.

"Well through a combination really. The X-Men all have someone to turn to and no matter how rough anything gets that person always seems to make them forget their woes," he replied wisely

"What's the rest of the 'combination'?" asked Jack

"Sitting behind these comics gives me the perfect opportunity to watch all of you without your knowledge so therefore I can study human behaviour," replied Logan.

"What did you do? Take a psych class on the side this year or something?" asked Erica.

"No, but I plan to major in psychology at college."

"You're fifteen and you've decided on your college major. I knew you were weird but…" at this Jack was cut off by the return of Emma, head to toe in pink and smiling nervously.

"See, you should always listen to Jack. You look beautiful babe," he said proudly.

Logan looked out of the window to see Janice's car pull up in front of the house. "Looks like our visitors have arrived. I better go down and prevent Gilda and Austin from causing chaos," he said. "Jack and Erica have already caused enough of that."

As Logan left the room the twins looked at the door with shocked expressions on their faces. But Emma soon removed them. "Don't you two look shocked. He's right." And with that Emma followed Logan downstairs.

When Emma got downstairs she saw Aaron sitting on the couch and again smiled nervously at him. He smiled back and she again found herself staring speechlessly into his deep hazel eyes. She was brought back intro the real world with the arrival of a half naked Jack searching furiously for something. Emma hoped to all that is sacred that it was clothes.

"Umm Jack, honey, did you forget something?" asked Emma as she sat next to Aaron.

"Ha. Ha-ha. Ha-ha-_ha_-_ha_. No I did not _forget_ something; it's gone _missing_." Jack replied.

"What has? Your sanity?" asked Erica.

"No my brand new silk shirt which I spent $40 on and I was going to wear this evening."

"Oh, okay, what does it look like?" asked Erica.

"It's silk and it's a shirt," he replied.

"What colour?" asked Emma. "No wait don't tell me – pink?"

"Again, Ha-ha-ha. No it's Lemon Surprise," he said sounding very annoyed.

"So it's yellow," replied Erica.

"Okay, yes whatever, now are you three – and yes that includes you Logan – gonna help me?" Jack asked.

"I think you should just stay like that." Emma stated, "You look good, have you been working out?"

"Okay, 1: You are sitting next to your new boyfriend and talking about another man's body!"

"Okay point taken," she replied.

"2: I have been working out. Does it really show?" he asked.

Emma and Erica nodded in agreement.

"And thirdly – NO. No-no-no."

At this point Joey, who had been watching the event along with the rest of the household, threw a blue shirt at Jack "I know it's not 'lemon surprise' but it is silk."

"Thank you," replied Jack just as Gilda and Austin walked into the room carrying what looked like a yellow rag. On closer inspection it was clear that the rag was silk, much to Jack's annoyance.

"What is that?" he asked trying to restrain himself from picking them up and throwing them out of the window.

Gilda put on the fake smile that made her look hurt and innocent all at the same time and replied, "Just a rag we found in Jack's room. We thought we would help Aunt Monica with the cleaning."

Only Monica and Janice had smiles on their faces and it took the combined strength of Emma, Erica, Logan and Ben to restrain Jack.

Before anyone could say anything Monica announced that dinner was ready and everyone moved into the dining room. As Mike stood up he shoved $40 dollars into Jack's hand.

"For a new shirt," he said before looking at his two smug children and saying "Don't look so happy, you don't get any pocket money until it's paid back."

And then it was Jack's turn to look smug as he took the only available place left at the table, next to Janice's son Ryan who looked at him with disgust. Jack looked at his sister and Emma who shrugged their shoulders before Logan whispered "Homophobic" in his ear. Before continuing his conversation with Janice's other son Jamie who seemed both interested and confused at the complex relaitionship of Cyclops and Jean. Jack looked at Erica who was deep in conversation with Janice's daughter Natalie, tuhen back to Ryan and thought 'Great

As dinner progressed most of the party started to relax, even Janice and Joey looked deep in conversation, and Joey didn't even look bored, just a little drunk. Despite everyone else getting along though, the tension between Jack and Ryan was felt between every teenager (and Ben and Claire) so, when Monica announced that dinner was over, they couldn't get away from each other fast enough. Their happiness was short-lived, however, when Chandler suggested that they all go upstairs to get to know each other better.

As the younger group of friends left the room, somewhat tensley due to the heated glares between Jack and Ryan, Ben and Claire braced themselves to tell the older group their news.

"You two not going' with them?" asked Joey drunkenly.

"In a minute. We have something to tell you guys first," replied Ben.

"Well don't keep us in suspense," said Phoebe.

"Okay, um…well… Claire's pregnant and we're getting married," said Ben quickly.

Everyone turned to look at Ross who sat there with his mouth open.

"Dad, what do you think?" asked Ben gently.

"I think it's, it's… great! Congratulations!"

"So are we the first to know?" asked Joey excitedly.

"No, we told Emma, Erica, Jack and Logan first," replied Claire.

Before anyone could say any more there was a knock at the door. When Monica answered there was a tall, athletic, tanned and very good looking man standing in the doorway… wearing a black sparkly cat suit.

"Hey Paul what's up?" asked Monica stifling a laugh.

"Is Emma here?" he asked.

"Yeah she's in Jack's room, you know where that is right?" she asked.

"Yeah, is it ok if I just go up?"

"Sure."

As Paul left the room Chandler's face turned white. "Please don't tell me him and Jack…"

"Yep, afraid so honey" replied Monica and the entire room burst into fits of laughter.

As Paul entered Jack's room everyone went silent and looked at him with strange expressions.

"Emma, did you forget something?" Paul asked angrily.

"Oops," replied Emma. "Paul, I am so sorry! I meant to call, we were having dinner because Joey's in town and then I found out Aaron and his family were coming and I was stressed out about that I am _so_ sorry," she said in one long, rushed sentence.

"That's okay, I booked the hall again for tomorrow morning so you better be there," he replied.

"I will I promise," said Emma.

"So this is hospital guy then?" he asked looking at Aaron.

"Yeah, sorry, Aaron this is Paul my dance partner and best friend."

They shook hands before Paul sat next to Jack and promptly kissed him passionately. At which Ryan looked at as if he was going to throw up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Erica.

"I thought you two broke up," asked Emma, feeling very confused.

"We did," replied Paul.

"So what's with the kissing?" asked Erica.

"We are what you would call 'friends with privileges'," replied Jack.

"Which is…?" asked Aaron.

"It means you can get laid without the hassle of a relationship," said Logan.

"And how do you know that?" asked Ben who was now standing in the doorway with Claire at his side.

"Jack told me." he replied simply.

"Oh and there was me thinking it was your amazing psychology experience," replied Erica.

"Ha, ha, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't know half of the stuff that you know."

"That doesn't make sense."

"How many of the great psychologists do make sense? Most people are still trying to work out what Freud was trying to say."

"Is anybody else confused?" asked Claire.

"Umm, yeah," replied Jamie and everyone else nodded their heads. Ryan, however, was watching Jack and Paul with a look of clear disgust, which only Jack and Logan noticed.

Then, after enduring over an hour of glares of disgust at what he and Paul were doing, Jack finally snapped, left the room, went straight to the garage, found his dad's new hiding place, took as many cigarettes as he could find and went to sit on the garden swing his mother had insisted on buying. The others who had been engaged in friendly conversation, mainly about Ben and Claire's impending marriage, fell silent to see what had happened and eventually Paul left the room.

As he sat there contemplating whether to light one of the cigarettes, a familiar voice came from behind him,

"You know, smoking's bad for your health," said Paul before sitting next to Jack.

"Never stopped you and you're a dancer – worse for you," he replied.

"Okay Jackie-boy, something's wrong, so spill." demanded Paul.

"Nothing's wrong," Jack replied hotly.

"It's the brunette kid, isn't it? Ryan or something." said Paul.

"Why would I care about that homophobic idiot?" asked Jack sarcastically.

"Come off it Jack, he's no more homophobic than you or I," said Paul.

"I'm not discussing this anymore," replied Jack angrily.

"You know what's really bothering you?" asked Paul.

"What?" asked Jack sarcastically again.

"This Ryan kid reminds you of yourself," he replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"God, Jackie-boy, you do have a short memory," started Paul. "When you and I met, you were petrified of me, just like Ryan's petrified of you. You weren't scared because I was flamboyant, loud, in your face; every gay label under the sun – it was because you knew deep, deep down that you were exactly like me, and _that_ scared you. Just like Ryan's scared because he's exactly like you."

"So how's this supposed to help me?" asked Jack

"If you remember rightly, I was there for you as soon as you admitted it to yourself. So you have to be there for him," replied Paul.

"How do I do it, if he won't even look at me?" asked Jack.

"He'll come to you. Just like you came to me," he replied.

"But if he doesn't?"

"He will. You like him don't you?" said Paul suggestively.

"No. What makes you say that?" asked Jack defensively.

"You've got that look in your eye. It's the same look I had every time I saw you," said Paul.

"But you and me - " started Jack

"Are over," finished Paul. "Yeah it was fun while it lasted and even more fun since, but we have to call it a day at some point and move on. I got a dog for that!"

"Are you sure," asked Jack.

"What, that I got a dog? Yeah he's a Chinese Hairless and I called him Kyle," said Paul.

" You know fine well what I mean," said Jack sternly.

"Yeah I'm sure," replied Paul. "One last kiss wouldn't go amiss though…"

Jack laughed and the two shared a passionate kiss for what they both knew would be the last time. Little did they know that they were being watched by Ryan, whose stomach was churning not with disgust, but with jealousy. As they broke away from the kiss Paul and Jack turned to see Ryan and Paul whispered to Jack before leaving.

"Mmm, sooner than I thought."


	8. Jack and Ryan

A/N: Okay not so much of Emma and Aaron in this chapter but I need this chapter so I could get on with telling their story without any confusion. I'm gonna throw a couple of these chapters in occasionally. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise; only the characters I've made up myself.

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Chapter 7: Jack and Ryan

When Paul returned to the room he was hounded by questions as to why Jack and Ryan had left. He shrugged them off by saying, "People with issues. Speak to Logan."

Everyone turned to Logan who replied, "A gay guy and a Homophobe. _Not_ a good mix."

"Ryan's not homophobic," said Paul. "He's Jack 2 years ago, me 3 years ago."

"Are you trying to say that my brother's gay?" asked Jamie angrily.

"Yeah, well, if he's not then my gaydar's not workin'," replied Paul sarcastically.

"It must be broken then cos' my brother is not gay," Jamie replied getting angrier by the minute.

"Come on Jamie, you know he is just as well as Natalie and I do," said Aaron.

"Some psychologist you're gonna make Logan," said Erica somewhat randomly. "You can't even tell the difference between someone who is homosexual and homophobic."

"Correction, Erica, I am a psychologist in training. Even Freud made mistakes," he replied.

"What the hell are we gonna do if Mom finds out?" asked Jamie.

"Well it's only a matter of time, seeing as he and Jack are getting cosy on that stupid garden swing his mother insisted on buying," replied Paul.

"What! Right Now! They've only just met!" exclaimed Jamie.

"I'm only kidding! But they are out on the garden swing. However, Jack is far too hung up on _me_ to think about seeing someone else," he said.

"Says Mr Modest," said Emma. "Ryan is coming to terms with too much stuff at the moment, he's not gonna want to do anything with Jack."

They all looked at one another in agreement before Erica said:

"Yet."

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Meanwhile, downstairs the older members of the family were surprised at how much they were getting along with Janice, even Joey who was deep in conversation with Janice at the dinner table about his new movie.

"Is it just me or was Janice kinda normal tonight?" asked Phoebe.

"I thought she seemed nice," said Mike. "Wasn't she always like that?"

"No, no-no-no-no-no-no-_oo,_" replied Chandler. "And did I mention NO!"

"I don't know why you're going on about how she's so bad. We were the ones who had to put up with her, you went out with her!" stated Ross quite matter-of-factly.

"Uh, Ross, honey so did you," added Rachel.

"Ha, see, you have just as bad taste in women as I do!" said Chandler triumphantly.

"Um, bad taste in women was that Chandler?" said Rachel.

"Comparing us to Janice were you, Chandler?" added Monica.

"Of course not! I…um…so are you excited about the wedding?" he asked.

"Yeah I suppose so. I mean they are quite young but if they're happy I'm happy." replied Ross.

"Is it just me or are Joey and Janice being very cosy this evening?" asked Phoebe.

"Yeah, I thought I was imagining things. I mean they're actually flirting," said Rachel.

"They're not flirting!" said Monica, "I mean they're just talking and she's stroking his hand and he's feeding her leftover lasagne… A stop must be put to this!"

"Hey Joey, Janice, why don't you join us, we're just talking about Ross becoming a Grandpa!" shouted Chandler.

Somewhat reluctantly Joey and Janice joined the rest of the group.

"So, Ross how do you feel about being a Grandpa?" asked Mike trying desperately to stifle a laugh at Chandler's expense.

"I suppose it's a little weird but cool at the same time." replied Ross.

"Does that make Rachel a step-grandma?" asked Janice.

"Yeah I guess it does." Rachel replied.

Chandler began laughing at the thought of Ross and Rachel as grandparents when he was interrupted by Phoebe.

"At least he knows his son's not gay!"

"See now Phoebes, that's not strictly true because my father's gay and he married my Mom so he could be."

"Please don't say that," said Ross. "That's just too weird."

"So is Jack gay?" asked Janice.

"No we just like to make Chandler think that he is," replied Monica sarcastically.

"You know I normally get vibes like that from people but I didn't get that from him!" said Janice sounding very shocked.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Chandler didn't know until yesterday," said Monica.

"So what's it like having a gay son?" asked Janice.

"He's pretty discreet so we wouldn't really know, why?" asked Monica.

"Because I think Ryan might be gay and he's been outside with Jack for a while now." she replied.

"I'm sure they're just talking. I don't think you have anything to worry about," said Rachel unconvincingly.

"Anyway, Jack's dating Paul isn't he?" said Mike.

"Nope," said Ben who had just come downstairs.

"What do you mean 'Nope'?" asked Chandler.

"They broke up a couple of months ago. They're far better apart than they are together." he replied.

All of the adults turned to look at the two young men outside but it was too dark for them to see anything, so they just sat in silence waiting for them to return.

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Outside Jack sat on the chair swing as Ryan stood, sometimes looking at the empty space beside him and other times looking vacantly towards the horizon. Eventually the silence became far too much for Jack and he decided to break it.

"So are you gonna stand there all night or are you gonna sit down?" he asked. "I promise you I won't bite, I'm not Paul."

Reluctantly, Ryan sat in the seat that had just been vacated by Paul. This time he stared at his hands, occasionally looking up at the bedroom that contained his brothers and his sister as if he was scared to be next to Jack. It later occurred to Jack that he probably was. However, again not one for silence, Jack tried to talk to him.

"So did you enjoy yourself this evening? I hope my Mom's food wasn't too much to handle. She enjoys experimenting when Joey's here cos he'll eat anything."

He got no reply. However, also never one to give up, Jack gave it another go.

"Do you like Emma? I mean if your brother ever married her, she'd be your sister-in-law. She's a really great girl you know. Absolutely no fashion sense whatsoever though, _and_ her mother works for Ralph Lauren so you would think that she would but she doesn't."

Again all he got was silence. He contemplated going for the shock factor but decided to make small talk instead.

"Do you have a tongue in there? I don't think I've heard you say one word all night. Are you deaf? Cos I know how to sign a little bit."

Ryan still stared at his hands.

"Okay, well enjoy the view, I'm outta here"

But as Jack went to leave, Ryan grabbed his arm. Jack was then faced with a dilemma; he could leave, Ryan wasn't holding on very tight so it wouldn't be too much of a strain. But as he looked at Ryan he saw a slightly younger version of himself and decided to sit back down and wait for Ryan to speak to him.

"I'm sorry for earlier," said Ryan quietly.

Jack didn't say anything at first; he was too struck by how nice Ryan's voice was and was suddenly pulled back to earth by the realisation that Ryan was looking at him.

"That's okay. I shouldn't have stormed out like that. My flight defence mechanism kicks in a little too quickly," Jack replied.

"I'm not usually that nasty. I guess you just freaked me out," said Ryan.

"Just me or me and Paul?" asked Jack.

"More you than Paul," he replied.

"But when Paul came in you became unbearable. You were tolerable during dinner," said Jack becoming quite confused.

Ryan looked at the ground for a few moments before replying;

"When he kissed you in your bedroom, something happened to me. It was only for a couple of seconds. I had butterflies in my stomach. It was as if I wished I were Paul. I hated myself for those two seconds so I took it out on you and I'm sorry."

Jack sat for a few minutes trying to digest what Ryan had said before managing to string a sentence together.

"So you were jealous of Paul for being with me?"

"Not really. I was jealous of both of you for doing what I'm too scared to do."

Jack decided that it was time for the shock factor.

"So, are you gay?"

"I dunno, I mean, I've never been with a girl before, never really had any interest in girls other than as a friend."

"Okay then, have you ever felt anything for another guy, other than friendship?" Jack asked.

"Not until tonight," mumbled Ryan, thinking that Jack couldn't hear him.

Unfortunately Jack has hearing to rival a dog's.

"Was it just me and Paul or something else tonight?" he asked racking his brains as what else he could have possibly done.

"The first time was, um, when you…" he mumbled the end of the sentence so quietly that even Jack couldn't hear him.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that end bit, 'when I…' what?"

Ryan sighed heavily before answering.

"Came into the room with no shirt on." he said before looking away.

"Oh…"

Jack looked at Ryan for a minute wondering if he wanted to reveal what he felt was the most humiliating experience of his life with a complete stranger. But as he looked at Ryan he realised that it was ultimately the best experience and that he needed to hear it.

"You know I had the exact same experience."

"How do you mean?"

"A couple of years ago, I was just like you, scared of what I could be, wondering what I was… But anyway, I went to meet Emma somewhere and I got to the place I was supposed to be meeting her when I found she wasn't there yet, so knowing that she was dancing with Paul, I went into their dance hall to see if I could find her. I couldn't so I figured she was getting changed and I went to meet her outside the changing rooms; unfortunately I took a wrong turn and instead of ending up outside the girls changing room I ended up in the men's shower room."

"Oh, my, God."

"Yeah, and then as I turned to walk away, who comes out of the showers, dripping wet with nothing but a towel on. I didn't say anything, I just stood there staring at him for just a couple of seconds before running out of the room and waiting outside in the rain for Emma."

"What did you say to Paul?"

"Nothing. Not for weeks. Then one day he came round to the house when he knew I was alone and sat with me in silence until I was ready to talk to him."

"What did you talk about?"

"What happened, why I ran off, why I had always been weird around him; everything."

"Then what happened?"

"I admitted it to myself"

"What?"

"That I was gay. I had fought it for long enough and I was tired of fighting."

"Was that when you came out?"

"Kinda. I told Emma and Erica that night and Logan guessed within five seconds of the girls returning to the room."

"He seems pretty perceptive"

"Too perceptive for his own good sometimes. It took me a couple of months to tell Ben but he said he had always suspected. Claire was easiest to tell cos at the time we didn't know her."

"No preconceptions?"

"Yeah. That was it. I only came out to my Dad yesterday and that's cos my Mom guessed and 'outed' me."

"When did you get together with Paul?"

"The night I told Ben and Claire."

"Why then?"

"Cos once I had spoken to Claire, a person I didn't even know, about my sexuality I was finally comfortable with it"

"I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with it."

"I felt the same at first but it gets easier."

"I don't want to be gay-- if anyone at school found out…"

Jack shrugged. "Then they find out. I nearly died when people at school found out about Paul and me. But this is the 21st century; most people are okay about it now. You will always get a couple of jerks in life that are nasty about this stuff, but if my Dad can pretend to handle it then there's hope for us all!"

For the first time since they had met, Ryan laughed. Jack didn't really notice him laughing, only how cute he was when he smiled.

"What school do you go to?" asked Jack, eventually.

"Newpark High," he replied.

"That's where I go! How come I've never seen you before?"

"It's a big school and I tend to blend into the background."

"Well if any of those jerks give you a hard time…"

Ryan looked at Jack expectantly.

"I'll send Emma and Erica to go and sort it out."

Seeing the disappointed look on Ryan's face Jack spoke again;

"Or if you'd prefer me to do it instead…"

Jack looked straight into Ryan's eyes. Before he realised what was happening, Ryan felt himself leaning in towards Jack before kissing him. After a couple of seconds he pulled away and ran into the house, Jack hot on his heels.

"Mom can we go soon?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, we can go now if you go and get your brothers and sister."

Ryan ran upstairs quicker than Jack could move and within seconds came downstairs with everyone in tow. He then ran out of the house followed by Jamie and Natalie who were looking at him worriedly. Aaron agreed to meet Emma tomorrow and then followed his siblings to the car where their mother was waiting.

"They left pretty quickly," said Joey.

"Damn," said Jack under his breath.

"What did you do?" asked Emma.

"I didn't do anything!" Jack replied.

"You must have, Ryan's been with you for the last half hour and suddenly he comes rushing upstairs begging to leave!" said Paul.

"You kissed him didn't you!" asked Erica.

"No" he replied angrily.

"Um, guys, you do realise you are having this conversation in front of our parents?" said Logan seeing the shocked faces of the adults in the room.

"I don't care because I haven't done anything wrong." said Jack angrily.

"You have kissed him, I can tell by the look on your face!" said Paul.

"I didn't kiss him, he kissed me."

"Well you must be a pretty bad kisser if he ran out of the room in tears." said Joey.

"He didn't run away because I'm a bad kisser. It's because he's petrified."

"Of what?" asked Chandler, trying to wipe the image of his son and Janice's from his mind.

"That he's exactly like me," replied Jack.

"So what are you gonna do now? You're not likely to see him again but I can tell from the look on your face that you're not going to give up," asked Emma.

"He goes to the same school as us. I'll find him and by God I'm not giving up. If I have to stalk him I will," said Jack defiantly.

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A/n: Ooh a man with a plan. Sorry for the length of time it took me to post, I've just started teacher training so life's a bit hectic at the mo, hopefully this will be enough to last you till chapter 8 which shouldn't be too long since I'm half way through it.


	9. Dates and Arguments

A/N: Okay please accept my deepest apologies for the length of time it took to post this chapter. I had such a bad case of writers block with this chapter but i think it was worth it. Hope you all enjoy!!!

Chapter 8: Dates and Arguments

The next morning, Emma remembered her dance rehearsal with Paul and made her way to the dance hall bright and early. When she got there she couldn't find Paul so she changed into her black, sparkly dress made to match Paul's cat-suit from the previous evening. As she waited for Paul, her thoughts drifted back to the night before and how such a good night was ended so badly. Her parents had liked Aaron. That was lucky, with Janice for a mother she had thought that they may be predisposed to hate him. Her thoughts then moved to Jack. She was worried about him. He always had Paul to tell him what to do; now he was on his own. She was snapped out of it when Paul came up to her and stood for a few minutes until she saw him.

"Oh, hey Paul."

"Very deep in thought, Aaron or something else?"

"A mixture. Aaron, Jack, everything that happened last night."

"Jack sure gave us a show-stopper end to the evening, didn't he?"

"Yeah, yeah he did."

"So are we gonna dance or what? You know the finals are only a week away!"

"You know, I think I've heard you say that a couple of hundred times."

After laughing sarcastically for a few seconds, Paul walked over to the music player and put on their song. As she danced with Paul to 'Up Where We Belong', the song from the movie she and Aaron would be seeing tonight, Emma could only think of Aaron and his gorgeous hazel eyes. After dancing for half an hour, they stopped for a break.

"So how do you think we're doing?" asked Emma.

"Good, we're getting much better at the second lift. You seemed distracted today though. Anything wrong?" he replied.

Before she had a chance to answer, her phone rang. Her heart leapt when she saw that it was Aaron. Before she could answer Paul did it for her;

"Hey Aaron, how are you?" he asked.

"Give me that phone," growled Emma.

"No, Aaron and I are having a lovely little conversation. So what are you planning on doing with my dance partner on this lovely day. I hope your intentions are honourable!"

Before he had any chance to argue, Emma had snatched the phone from Paul's hand;

"Sorry about him," she told Aaron before leaving the room to speak to him without interruptions.

While she was away, Paul tried to distract himself by recounting their dance session so far, but his thoughts were soon pulled back to Jack. He, like Emma, was worried about Jack and how he would handle the whole Ryan situation. As Emma came bounding back into the room, Paul made a mental note to speak to Jack later that evening.

"So what did lover boy say?" he asked Emma.

"He said that he would come and pick me up in thirty minutes and that he couldn't wait to see me," she replied.

"You look happy about that," said Paul stating the obvious.

"Why wouldn't I be, I like him so much Paul, I mean I really like him!" she exclaimed.

"Do you know, I couldn't tell!" he remarked sarcastically. "You know if we're gonna be ready by the time he gets here, we'd better get dancing!"

As they began to dance neither of them could seem to put a foot right, in the literal sense.

"Okay, what's up?" asked Emma.

"What do you mean 'what's up?' You were just as bad as me." he replied.

"Yeah but I'm thinking about Aaron, you know that. And you've been keeping me right when I got distracted."

"Well seeing as neither of us are in any fit state to perform, maybe we should just call it off for today then!" said Paul angrily before storming off to the changing rooms.

Emma stood frozen to the spot. She had known Paul for most her life and she had never seen him act that way before. He had been fine all morning and as soon as she had spoken to Aaron he suddenly changed. Was he jealous that she had someone and he didn't? Did Aaron bring up memories he'd rather forget or was it something else entirely? Before giving it another thought she stormed into the men's changing rooms to find Paul in the showers.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" shrieked Paul.

"Oh, don't give me that, I've seen it all before!" Emma replied.

"That's as maybe," said Paul as he came out of the showers wrapping a towel around him, "But I thought we were done for the day."

"Aaron isn't picking me up for another twenty minutes so we have plenty of time to talk before he gets here." she replied.

"Talk about what?" asked Paul angrily.

"Why you're acting this one for one," Emma replied just as angrily.

"The finals are a week away and I'm just a little stressed," he lied.

"Yeah, right! If it was that you would've had me dancing for the rest of the day until we got it one hundred per cent! You wouldn't have stormed off! I think you forget how well I know you!" she replied, rage building up inside her.

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you thought. We are getting older now, Em'," he replied.

"Yeah and we've gotten older together," she said as she locked the door.

"What are you doing now?" sighed Paul.

"Neither of us are getting out of here until you tell me what's wrong," she replied.

"Won't Aaron be waiting for you?" he asked sarcastically.

"Like I said he won't be here for another twenty minutes and besides he can wait. This is more important." said Emma.

"It's nothing. I'm just tired, don't read so much into stuff."

Emma sat beside him on a bench. "Don't lie to me Paul. It's Jack isn't it?"

"What makes you think that?" Paul asked.

"Because you two always get like this when you're worried about each other. I guess no matter how many other guys you two are involved with, you still care about each other," she said, sounding very agony-aunt-ish.

"_Ooh_ get you, very profound! Okay you're right, but its not that he's with someone else, its more what he's getting himself into that I'm worried about," said Paul softly.

"What do you mean?" asked Emma.

"For all him wisdom and experience, Jack's still only sixteen, and I don't know if he's ready for what he's taking on."

"You were only seventeen. And you coped. Jack's got a thick skin. And both of us will be there to look after him. He just doesn't need to know."

"Thank you, Emma," said Paul as Emma left the room to get changed.

"What for?" she asked.

"Being you" he replied smiling.

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As he drove up to the dance hall where he was supposed to meet Emma, Aaron found himself with butterflies in his stomach. This was the first time he had felt this way about any girl before. Emma was one of a kind for him. And he was definitely not going to let her slip through his fingers. When he arrived he realised that he was early so he thought he'd sneak a peek at the dance he had heard so much about.

However when he opened the door the hall was empty. He looked around for any sign of them and when he couldn't find any he wondered if he had the right place. Just as he was about to call Emma and ask, a door opened to the side of him and Paul came out of it.

"Hey, you're early," he said looking at his watch.

"I thought that was supposed to make a good impression." Aaron replied.

"Oh, it does. We finished a little early so Emma's just getting changed. Are you coming to the show next week?" Paul asked.

"I don't know, Emma hasn't invited me yet." said Aaron.

"I'm inviting you," said Paul matter-of-factly.

"Well thanks, I'll talk to Emma about it tonight." he replied.

"So what are you guys gettin' up to this fine day?" Paul asked.

"Umm, we're going to see a movie, her choice this time-"

"Which means 'An Officer and a Gentleman'. She's always been a sucker for chick flicks."

"Yeah, and then I'm taking her out to dinner and then, who knows?" Aaron finished.

"Sounds like the perfect date." said Paul.

The pair stood in silence for a few minutes before either of them spoke.

"So how long have you known Emma?" asked Aaron.

"Twelve years, I think. She moved next door to me when she was five and despite me being so much older than her, we became friends. And we've stayed that way ever since."

"How much older are you?"

"Eleven months and six days. But when you're six that's quite an age gap!"

"So you pretty much know everything there is to know about her?"

"Yep," replied Paul, "but if you're fishin' for info' you ain't getting any."

"I wouldn't dream of it!" said Aaron with a feigned hurt look on his face, "I intend to find out anything I need to for myself!"

"Good, good." replied Paul as Emma walked out of the changing room/ "_Ooh_ speak of the devil!"

"So what are you two talking about then?" asked Emma.

"I'm just telling Aaron all your deepest darkest secrets," replied Paul "Like this one time Emma and I were in Long Island and…"

"So Aaron, should we get going?" asked Emma before Paul could reveal anymore of their mishaps in Long Island.

"Sure," said Aaron with a smirk on his face "I'll get the rest of the story from Paul another time."

And with that they left the dance hall and walked to Aaron's car.

As they walked hand in hand Emma looked at him nervously.

"Don't worry, Paul didn't divulge any of your dirty little secrets." Aaron assured her, "He says he'll tell me the next time I see him…when you are out of earshot!"

And with that they got into the car, a knot forming in Emma's stomach.

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Erica stood outside her brother's room and listened. It was quiet. Too quiet in fact. Jack always had some form of noise coming from his room but today there was nothing. This made Erica very, very worried. Jack was never the quiet type. Not ever. Not even as a child. There has to be something wrong. She knocked on his door tentatively.

"Jack, are you in there?" she asked. "It's me, Erica."

She waited outside the door for a few minutes and just as she was about to walk away the door opened and Jack stood there with a drained look on his face.

"Are you coming in or not?" He asked and Erica walked into the room.

As Erica walked in she noticed how dark it was. Jack's room was always light, curtains and windows always open, but today both were closed and it felt strange. As well as the darkness, Erica noticed that the room was messy. Again this was unusual for Jack who always had everything perfectly tidy. Erica looked at Jack and noticed that it wasn't just Jack's room that was dark and messy, Jack was too. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn the night before and looked like he hadn't slept.

"So… what's up sis?" Jack asked.

"I was about to ask you the same question."

"Well I'm fine, which brings us back to you." he replied.

"Cut the crap Jack. I know you better than anyone and you are far from fine."

"I _am _fine, why wouldn't I be?" asked Jack as he turned away from Erica.

"That kid really got to you didn't he?" Erica asked softly.

"What kid?" asked Jack, knowing full well what the answer was going to be.

"You know fine well 'what kid'!" said Erica starting to get angry "That Ryan kid, Aaron's brother."

"What about him?" asked Jack, again avoiding looking at his sister.

"Last night you had your tongue down his throat and was determined to find him after he ran off and today you pretend you don't know who I'm talking about and for the first time in our entire lives you look horrific!" she replied angrily.

Jack was now beginning to get angry and turned around to face his sister. "First of all, he kissed me, not the other way around, and secondly, Paul and I officially ended things last night so have you even stopped to consider that maybe that's that reason I'm not in a perfect condition today?"

"You know as well as I do that you and Paul have got nothing to do with this, so don't even try and lay that one on me! This kid has gotten to you in a way no guy ever has before and you don't know what the hell to do about it!"

Jack looked at his sister and realised that she was right. "Okay so maybe you're right but is it any of your business anyway?"

"Yes, it is, because I'm your sister and I care about you and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Who says I'm gonna get hurt?" he asked turning away from her and picking up some clean clothes from his bed.

"Jack you are only sixteen. Okay so you'll be seventeen in a couple of months but I don't think you're ready to be taking all of this on board."

"Erica, I came to terms with who I am a long time ago. Ryan needs my help and believe me, I am not letting him run away from me again," he said as he stormed out of the room and into the bathroom.

"But you seem to be good at running away from me!" she shouted after him.

Erica sat down on her brother's bed and thought about the conversation they had just had. She had known for a long time about Jack and his sexuality, possibly longer than he himself had. However, something just didn't feel right so she decided to go and speak to the one person she trusted most in the world…

Jack, on the other hand, couldn't bring himself to go over the first real argument he had ever had with his sister. Instead, he listened to her leave the house before getting changed and working out what he was going to do. He decided he needed to find Ryan and if he couldn't then he would speak to Paul. He quickly realised he didn't know where Ryan lived so he decided he would start with the one place most teenagers could be found on a Saturday. The Mall.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later, Emma and Aaron left the movie theatre and decided to go for something to eat at the same place they had a meal during their last date.

They sat in silence before Aaron decided to talk.

"You know, Paul wasn't going to tell me anything about Long Island or any of your other secrets, he said he wouldn't tell me anything."

Emma looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"So you wanted to know all of my secrets then, did you?" she said accusingly.

"No! I didn't mean it like that… we were just talking…"

"I'm only teasing! There's nothing too shocking that Paul could tell you. Long Island was probably the worst," she replied.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Aaron asked, "So what _did _you do in Long Island?"

Emma laughed before answering, "It was Paul's fault more than it was mine but we…um…got arrested."

Aaron choked on the juice he had been drinking and stared at Emma with a shocked look on his face.

"You got arrested?!"

"Yeah. We were at my Granddad's birthday party, and all of us had been sneaking alcohol away when the adults weren't looking, and we got a little bit drunk and in our drunken state, Paul and I decided to go for a walk."

"So you were arrested for underage drinking?" Aaron asked.

"Partly…while we were walking, we came across a park which was all locked up. There was this bandstand in the middle and Paul said that he wanted to go and dance on it. I told him that we couldn't get in because it was locked."

"You broke into a park?!"

"No not technically, but I did climb over the wall and dance on the bandstand. And then some local was out walking his dog and saw us dancing and called the cops. But because we were young, from the city and first time offenders, we just got a warning."

Aaron was practically falling out of his chair with laughter.

"Stop it!" said Emma trying not to laugh. "It was horrible when my dad started to yell. My head was sore enough at the time without that!"

"What about Paul?" asked Aaron now starting to clam down.

"He, for the first time in his life took full responsibility for what happened but his parents grounded him for two months. Jack had to climb in his window to see him!" she replied giggling.

"That would have been a sight!" said Aaron.

"Oh, it was hilarious, but other than that, I don't think there are any huge skeletons in my closet. Now you."

"Now me, what?" he asked.

"I've told you my deepest darkest secret. Now you tell me yours."

"The only real secret I have is my nose, but you already know about that don't you?" he replied.

"That's your only secret?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I'm a good boy" he said coyly.

"Too good by the sounds of things." she replied.

As they left the café and walked towards the exit, Aaron caught sight of Jack who was looking a lot worse than he had the previous night.

"Hey, isn't that Jack?" he asked Emma.

"Yeah, it is." she replied "Jack!"

Jack quickly turned around to see who was calling him. As he saw Emma and Aaron walking towards him he felt relief for the first time today, as Aaron was the key to finding Ryan.

"Hey, how was your date?" he asked trying to appear his usual self.

"It was good," Emma replied tentatively, "Jack, honey, are you feeling alright, you don't look so good?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"'Cos you look as bad as Ryan did this morning," said Aaron.

"What do you mean?" asked Jack eagerly.

"He didn't sleep at all last night, going over what happened. He looked ill when I saw him this morning."

"I came here to look for him. To try to talk to him. I didn't mean to scare him last night. I really didn't." replied Jack.

"Why did you come here if you wanted to talk to him?" asked Emma.

"Because I didn't know where else to look. I don't know where he lives, I don't really know much about him. So I thought I'd start here." said Jack.

"42 Welburn Avenue" said Aaron. "That's where we live, 42 Welburn Avenue. I think you both need to talk."

At this new information, Jack's face lit up. "Thank you. Thank you so much. Emma you have the best boyfriend in the world." And with that Jack ran in the direction of the exit, eager to see Ryan as quickly as possible.

"Do you think Ryan will talk to him?" asked Emma.

"I don't know. He can be pretty stubborn, especially when he scared." he replied.

Emma smiled at him, "Jack can be very forceful. I'm sure they'll work something out. So where to now?"

"What do you mean?" asked Aaron

"Well there's still most of the day left. So, where to now?"

Aaron put his arm around her shoulder "Where would you like to go?"

Emma put her arm around his waist smiling, "The park."

"Okay, to the park." he replied as they walked out of the mall.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took Jack less than twenty minutes to walk to Welburn Avenue. It should have taken him forty. He stood outside number 42 absorbed in thought about what he was going to do next. All of his thoughts had been focused on finding Ryan and it had not crossed his mind what he would do or say when he eventually did find him. After standing outside for five minutes, he decided to just bite the bullet and he knocked on the door.

He had expected to see Ryan or one of his siblings who, like Aaron, would see the need for them to talk. But it was not Ryan or Natalie or even Jamie that opened the door. It was Janice. He had not expected this and didn't know what to say.

"Hey, Jack, right?" she asked "What are you doing here?"

"Umm… I'm here to see Ryan. We arranged it last night." he lied.

"Oh, okay well he's upstairs in his room, second on the left if you just wanna head up. I'm going out to work in the next few minutes anyway." she replied.

"Thank you ma'am." Jack said as he entered the house and started to climb the stairs to Ryan's bedroom.

He stood outside Ryan's room for a few minutes, unsure what to do. Should he make light of it? Should he appear angry and forceful and demand answers? In the end he decided if he could bluff his way past Janice, he could make it up with Ryan as he went along. With that thought in mind he knocked gently on Ryan's door and a few second later he answered it.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked angrily.

"I came to see you." Jack replied, "We have a lot to talk about."

"My Mom is right downstairs." said Ryan quietly.

"I know, who do you think opened the door. Fairies? Sorry bad choice of words. And if you don't want her to hear, then I'd let me in if I were you."

Ryan grudgingly opened his door to let Jack in before closing it and locking it.

"How did you get this address?" he asked.

"Aaron gave it to me. I met him and Emma at the mall." replied Jack.

"Why are you here?" asked Ryan for the second time.

"I told you-- we need to talk, and Aaron seemed to agree with me."

"What the hell do we have to talk about?" asked Ryan getting angrier by the second.

"How about we start with last night?" said Jack.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, lets look at this from my point of view; one minute I'm on the receiving end of a very good kiss and then the next minute the guy who kissed me has run away and I'm left standing in a room in front of all of my friends and family who are asking me what I did to you! So how about we start with an explanation?" said Jack.

"So what exactly am I supposed to be explaining?" asked Ryan who by this point was feeling very confused.

"Why you kissed me." said Jack as he sat on the edge of Ryan's bed.

Ryan thought about this for a few moments before sitting next to Jack.

"I don't know why I kissed you. It was a heat of the moment thing" he said.

"'Heat of the moment'?" Jack repeated "Well I suppose it was pretty hot."

"Was it?" asked Ryan without thinking.

Jack laughed to himself before replying, "Red hot. Now question two: Why did you run away?"

"Isn't that obvious? I freaked out. I have never, never done that with a guy before, but I kissed you so I must have been attracted to you and that…that scared me."

"So you decided to just run off and leave me to face everyone?" asked Jack angrily.

"I didn't decide anything." said Ryan now making eye contact with Jack for the first time since he had arrived "I just let my flight defence mechanism kick in too early."

"_Oooh_ am I getting déjà vu?" he asked sarcastically.

"I wouldn't know." Ryan replied shortly.

"Look, in all seriousness, everything you're feeling now, I felt. A million times over. It's all normal." said Jack.

"Still makes me gay though doesn't it?" asked Ryan.

"Yeah, yeah it does," replied Jack noting that Ryan had finally said that he was gay. "But is that so bad?"

"I dunno. I've always been told that a guy's place in life is to have a good job, get married and have a family. Being gay…nothing fits into place."

"I was always told that it was a guy's place to be happy. If you do all those things, you'd be lying to your wife, your kids, your employers and yourself. And that would be what makes you unhappy." replied Jack.

"I suppose that kinda makes sense." said Ryan.

"See, always listen to Uncle Jack" he said trying not to make the conversation too heavy.

"You don't like serious chats do you Jack?" asked Ryan.

"No, I don't suppose I do." he replied honestly.

"Me neither." Ryan replied now looking at Jack with a smile on his face. "They take all the fun out of life."

"Exactly. You know, I'm pretty sure Aaron and your other siblings know about the gay thing." said Jack.

"They do. They've all been in today to tell me that it's okay if I'm gay." replied Ryan.

"See it's not too bad. And your Mom probably knows too."

"What makes you think that?" asked Ryan.

"Mothers just know." replied Jack.

"Okay, fair enough. So what do I do now?" he asked.

"Whatever you want." replied Jack.

"What if I don't know what I want?" asked Ryan.

"How about you just have a gay friend? Then you can get a glimpse of the lifestyle," suggested Jack.

"That sounds like a good idea. Who though?" replied Ryan.

"Who what?" asked Jack.

"Who do I get to be my gay friend?" asked Ryan again.

"He's lookin at ya" replied Jack.

"Okay, I suppose I can handle that. Do you want something to drink? I think my Mom's gone out." said Ryan.

"A drink would be nice," said Jack with a smile on his face as he followed Ryan downstairs to the kitchen.

------------------------------------------------------------------

"He is being totally unreasonable." exclaimed Erica, "I mean all I did was try to show concern for my dear brother when he needed help and all I get is a mouthful of abuse!"

Erica, completely unaware of the conversation which had just gone on between Ryan and Jack was currently recounting her argument with Logan as she had done for the last three hours.

"Have you thought that maybe, for one of the first times in Jack's life he doesn't know what to do and that's why he's being unreasonable?" asked Logan.

"That's as maybe but I was only trying to help." said Erica.

"I know you were. But maybe he just has to figure this one out himself." replied Logan.

"I suppose you're right. As usual." replied Erica.

"What does everyone else think about the situation?" asked Logan.

"I don't know. You saw our parents' reactions last night. I haven't seen Ben or Claire, and Emma was dancing with Paul this morning and going out with Aaron this afternoon." she replied.

"So is this their second date then?" asked Logan.

"Yeah, they're going to a movie as far as I know." replied Erica, not realising that Logan was purposefully moving her away from the subject of Jack.

"Don't you think it's weird that they were born on the same day and that both their parents knew each other from way back and they just meet up on some random occasion." said Logan.

"It is pretty weird. I suppose it must be fate." she replied.

"I suppose. She really seems to like him doesn't she?"

"Yeah, she does. Hey you never know, we might be going to their wedding in a few years," she said sarcastically.

"Didn't Aunt Rachel say that Janice introduced Aaron as her future son-in-law?"

"Yeah, she did. God wouldn't that be freaky. Janice with telepathic abilities."

"I suppose. But do you think your father or Uncle Ross or Uncle Joey could handle having Janice in the family forever? They seemed scared out of their minds when you and Jack said she was coming to dinner." he said with an evil smile on his face.

"How funny would that be?" asked Erica. "Speaking of weddings, it shouldn't be too long till Ben and Claire tie the knot."

"When's the date?" asked Logan.

"I don't know but they wanna do it before the baby's born and Claire's nearly five months gone." she replied.

"You're gonna be a bridesmaid right?" he asked.

"Yep, me, Emma and one of Claire's friends. Although Gilda's gonna be a flower girl."

"Oh my god! Are they out of their minds?" he said.

"They'd be dumber if they didn't ask her. Could you imagine the tantrum she would throw if she wasn't doing anything?"

"What's Austin doing?" inquired Logan.

"Page boy I believe. You're gonna be one of Ben's groomsmen right?"

"Yeah, and I have to wear a suit. I can't remember the last time I wore a suit."

"I'm sure you'll look very dashing. Have you got Emma's birthday present yet?" she asked.

"No, when's her birthday?"

"Next week. On the day of the dance competition. Hey and that means it'll be Aaron's birthday too." realised Erica, with a smile on her face.


End file.
